The Week That Was

It’s been a busy week here at Talent Management. We know you’ve been busy too. Let’s shake off the crazy work week with the top five stories on Talentmgt.com for the week of April 30.

1. Five Tips to Make the Most of Exit Interviews: From lack of salary increases to excessive workloads, find out why employees are quitting so you can fix the problem and prevent a mass exit in the future, writes Robert Hosking, executive director of staffing agency OfficeTeam.

2. The CEO’s Role in Talent Management: Don’t just tell your employees they’re your most valuable asset — show them. And get your CEO involved in talent management efforts to drive home the message, writes Halley Bock, CEO of leadership development and training firm Fierce Inc.

3. Make Sure You’re Spending Your Time Wisely: Focusing your efforts on strategy seems to lead to greater HR and organization success, writes Talent Management columnist John Boudreau, professor and research director at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business and Center for Effective Organizations.

4. Social Business: Not Just for Gen Y Anymore: Social Software’s potential for management makes it a valuable tool for workers of all ages, writes Talent Management editorial director Mike Prokopeak, and companies that embrace it might be more successful in the long run.

Employers have become more flexible on where and when employees do their work, according to a new study.

Nonprofit group Families and Work Institute released a study Monday that found that three of four employers now offer some sort of flextime. That’s up from two-thirds of those surveyed by the institute in 2005. Further, the proportion allowing employees to work from home at least sometimes nearly doubled, to 63 percent from 34 percent, the study said.

The Wall Street Journal wrote more about the details of the study here.

Even though workers are given more flexibility in their work, bosses have also hacked away at opportunities for true R&R, according to the study.

“Sabbaticals or career breaks for personal or family duties are declining,” the Journal blog post said, “offered by 52 percent of employers, compared with 73 percent in 2005. And just 41 percent of employers allow another kind of flexibility that many working parents want — the ability to move from part-time to full-time work and back again, down from 54 percent in 2005, the study says.”